Tack Tote

The girls are always trying to juggle there tack for the barn using plastic bags ect. So this tote may help. Just finished this tote for Kennedy, also did one for her sister..but they are the same so one picture. Not very fancy..did a zipper on one side and 2 small pockets on the other side. The inside is plain ..that is where the boots gloves..ect. go. Needless to say this tote is not going to be clean for long. Used denim for easy laundering.

Our Christmas is this weekend. Thanks to another blunder by Sears I am desperate for a delivery this Wed. I placed the order way back on the 20th..it is lost so now have placed another order..so hopefully one of them turn up. 90% of the gifts for one of the girls is in that order..Geesh why do I do this to myself. You would think I would learn.

This cold weather can leave..oh my. The lads were in all yesterday and today. Got them out for an hour while I got some chores done..but they were happy to come back in when the doors opened. Tomorrow is supposed to warm up..but along with that..more snow. Oh well it is winter in Ontario..so what else would you expect..lol

Yesterday I took a break from sewing and watched the movie Home Alone. It is just hilarious. Love a good classic movie. Christmas movies will get you in the mood if nothing else does. Now to watch Christmas Vacation. That movie makes you realize an artifical tree is a good thing..lol

Back to my room..enjoy the day.

Horses, Sewing & Christmas

I got a call while enjoying a quiet time in my sewing room..we are taking the horses out..do you want to take some pictures. Well..this shows how much my love of horses is..lol. Leave a nice dry warm sewing room..and take pictures ..YOU BET!!These gorgeous lads belong to our neighbor Steve. Rod just loves heading out to help him with the sleighs. They managed to take 2 teams out before it got to dark..lol..and to wet.In any case I got some wonderful shots. This is going to be a long snowy winter the way it is going.

Finished embroiderying the work shirts and now on to some Christmas sewing/embroidery. Having fun getting used to the Sapphire. First thing I did was get the Bendable Bright Light disk put on that machine as well. I have no idea how I sewed without this wonderful gadget. Sewing with dark colours is not an issue anymore. Yes it is more expensive than you would think for a tiny gadget like that..but way more important than any light I have in my sewing room.

My B-Line Frame is up..the machine ready to go..now to wait for one more little part and I am ready to go. I got the Quilter's Cruise Control but have to get different optical encoders. It is sitting at one end of the livingroom..lol..and there it stays. Christmas will just have to go on around it. Waited far to long to take it down for the Season.

Off to feed the lads. Enjoy the day.

Kreative Blogger Award

Thank you so much Bunny (http://creativehare.blogspot.com)for this award. Your creative talents are always a joy to learn from. You are always there with a helping hand when I get myself in a mess..lol. Now I would like to pass the award on to some talented gals that I have found while blogging.

The rules of the award are:
1. The winner may put the logo on her blog.
2. Put a link to the person you got the award from in your blog.
3. Nominate 5 blogs.
4. Put links to the blogs.
5. Leave a message for your nominees.

So here are my nominees. Make sure you stop by their blogs.


http://delightedhands.blogspot.com/
Alway a delight to receive a message on my Blog from this talented gal. Please drop in and see her.

http://www.patchworktimes.com/
Judy's Blog was one of the first I found while wandering Blogland. Her humour and talent is a constant delight.

http://www.cherylshtuff.blogspot.com/
Cheryl never quits. Between the renovations to her home and her crafts...how does she do it. Also check out her new Sewing Studio..OH MY!!


http://patchworksanity.blogspot.com/
This talented lady has a great blog. Hope to take a class from her sometime. Is her cat not the sweetest??

http://caledoniaquilter.blogspot.com/2008_11_01_archive.html
A talented Long Arm Quilter..who's Blog I have enjoyed visiting.

Here We Go AGAIN!

Not EVEN December yet. I should not complain really when I watch on TV the amount of snow falling in other areas of Ontario...oh my we are lucky....could be worse.

Almost finished embroiderying names on some business shirts then on to some Christmas sewing and quilting. The frame is hopefully going to be set up today. Just waiting for the Stitch Regulator to come and I will be ready to play. Lots to learn so it will help put in time this winter if this snow keeps up.

Ok..so this is how my thinking goes...in any case it works for me..lol.

SO...The B-Line frame of course needs a machine..and that would be my Mega Quilter. So that leaves the D1 to do the Embroidery and general sewing. I do have a Featherweight...and another portable..but not one with a big throat space. Now what is a gal to do while the Embroidery part is working..Well of course I HAD to get another machine.

The Sapphire 870 Quilt

Great throat space and lots of decorative stitches. Lots of feet come with the machine and some of the feet I have for the D1 will fit as well. I am one happy camper. Even hubby agreed I needed another machine..how great is that.

Well off to set up the frame. Wish me luck. Got lots of pictures to help with the set up. No doubt I will be calling Bunny to get some advice. Thank heavens her frame is set up.

Enjoy the day!!

Ford Focus 2007..Tires!!!

I guess I should just let this go without fussing about it....but that is not going to happen for a few days.

Yesterday I took our car to the dealership to get the snow tires put on. Great staff, I always enjoy going there no complaints about them at all. My arguement is not with them..it is with FORD.

When I went in I said..please check the wear on the tires that are on the car. We have 34,000km (hatchback style) on the car..why should I EVEN begin to think that there is something wrong is My Thinking before I even made the request. I explained..well it just does not seem to handle well in the rain....just does not seem right. It is hard to tell just looking at a tire!!
CAN YOU BELIEVE it the tires are DONE!!! WORN OUT....and there is no warranty...no discounts offered by FORD on new tires..thats IT....TO BAD..there worn out.

Now before I went in I did a Google and did see that other owners have had issues with there tires also so I did have an idea I may be in trouble..but had "hoped" that the tires were not as bad as I had thought. So I left the darn tires there. No point in fighting with Ford..not good for the blood pressure. What the heck they did not charge me for getting rid of them (lucky me) and if I had brought them home I would have had to pay a dump fee after several months of writing letters and making phone calls that did me NO good at all.

So much for quality control....cars and trucks should come with tires that will last longer than this. So if you are going into winter with a Ford Focus people...and you think because it is a relativlely new car..that you don't need to check the tires..think again. Slow down and check your tires no matter what make you own before you get into an accident.

Lovely bill coming up this spring for new tires..Nice..thanks FORD..!!!!

To Much To Do!

I was not ready for Thanksgiving and all the rest of the Fall chores that I needed to get looked after. Kept looking at the calendar..how on earth did this weekend arrive so quickly..oh my!!
We had a great Thanksgiving weekend with family and friends. Our oldest GD is on crutches for 6 weeks due to a torn ligament. Poor kid was just getting on her horse when she heard the snap. So she hopped and hobbled around all weekend..crutches are hateful, especially to a kid that wants to go!!

I took a few pictures of the lads heading out to the pasture. Won't be long before they will be blocked from there field. Poor guys.




Woke up this morning to rain and cooler temperatures. Oh my..best make an appointment to get the winter tires on. First snowfall is usually in November around here so don't want to get caught without them. Last year in Nov. I was in Toronto with a friend..took us 3 hours to get home. Usually it is an hour plus trip.

The Creative Sewing Festival ( or whatever changes to the name ..gets confusing ) is starting tomorrow in Toronto. Going to miss this one but will take in the Spring show when it is at the International Center. This one is downtown at the Convention Center, to many issues with parking and walking. Will just have to wait for Bunny to report on all the new goodies after her visit.

Off to do some quilting. Enjoy the day.

Great Weather

The weather has been just wonderful. Sure hope this lasts for awhile. Looked out my sewing room window the other morning to see my neighbors dog resting on the dock. Is he not the most majestic looking lad. It was around 6a.m. I had to take the picture through the glass. Figured he would move if I went outside. He sure looked like he was enjoying the morning mist coming off the pond.

Starting back to some sewing. Nice to get into a routine if at all possible. Really looking forward to returning to Tuesdays Sewing Group. Can't wait to see everyones jackets.

Bunny is creating again. She just finished another gorgeous quilt top. Love the shading Bunny. Hop on over to her Blog and check it out. (The Creative Hare)

Enjoy this wonderful weather.

Loved So Much

My MIL passed away Wednesday morning after a courageous battle. It was her time but that does not make it any easier on the ones left behind. She was the proud GG to 6 Great Grandchildren ranging in age from 11 to 3yrs. One of them asked if they could copy there hand print on to the coffin. (yes the coffin was closed)So there they were all lined up waiting to have there little hand prints traced onto the coffin with permanent marker. Each wrote there own name in the center. The youngest was quick to remind us she was to young to do that..lol. What a sweet time that was. Lots of tears and memories shared during the private family service. It will take us time to deal with our loss but that is ok..at least we know she is at peace.

It Is A Sad Time

I will be back but at this time my Mother In Law needs me. At 94 she is not doing well with her battle with Cancer and Kidney disease. We have moved her in with us and with the help of the family we are looking after her here. There are no words to say how much we all appreciate the help we are getting from Home Care, Nursing and all the other wonderful services out there. What a blessing.

Keep well...Judi B.

Green Grass!

The time has flown,somehow we are in August. The ads are in the papers and on T.V. featuring back to school specials. My mind is still back in June..lol.


The lads are not fading away. They have a huge pasture beyond the fenceline you see in the background. Every year this area close to the barn is burnt to a crisp in mid July never mind August. Look at it..looks like we live in Ireland. Last year we had to feed them some hay to keep them going it was so dry. Wow!!

I just have to do some hand sewing on the baby panel and that is done. Last week I got started on cutting the pattern pc's apart for the Vogue jacket a group of us are making this fall. Can't wait to get that going. Next week I want to start cutting fabric so I am ahead of the game. Sept. is going to come very fast ..lol..since I lost most of July...lol.

The B-Line frame is going to have to wait for awhile to be set up. To many things going on around here. Lets face it..that is a fall/winter project. Just have to be patient. At least I have it..and it is not going anywhere. There will be time later on.

The traffic has been heavy in our tourist area. Lots of people up enjoying the weather. Today has been great so I think a lot of people stayed up to the last minute. Can't blame them. Lovely day today.

Enjoy..

Now the fun begins!

Here is my B-Line..let the fun begin. I have kids for the weekend so it is not the time to try to put this sweetheart together. The table I was planning on using I think is to wide for where I want to work but I will set it up and give it a try. Oh it is so hard to WAIT..lol.

Just found out a co-worker of hubby's is a new Grampa so time to make up a blanket. Thank heavens I still have some baby panels that are really cute to play with. I think I need more hours in the day.

Looks like rain again today..to be followed with more rain tomorrow..enough already. If anyone has the time check out Sawdust and Cowpies Blog..now that is rain..poor Missouri is really getting hammered. The pictures on his site are just incredible.

Have a good day everyone. Keep dry!!

Yippee..B-Line Quilt Frame

Last week I saw an ad for a B-Line Quilt Frame for sale. Boy was I lucky it was summer and a lot of quilters are out enjoying the warm weather..lol. One phone call and I new it was for me. The good news is that the frame is close to where I live so I am heading off with a friend Wed. to pick it up. There is not enough room for it in my sewing room so it will have to go at one end of the livingroom when I am using it. My sanity I am sure is going to be tested trying to learn this way of quilting. My Mega Quilter will fit the frame so I am ready to go. Hey it is a long winter so I am sure I will have the time..lol

Horse pictures coming tomorrow. My Granddaughters were here for the week and had a great time riding. Between the kittens at the barn and the horses it was not much of a job looking after them..lol.

Hay Season..and Rain!!

This is a picture of last year!! This year forget it.
We are very fortunate to have enough hay for another winter because this year..the rains will not give us a break. Other years we have had the hay in before the kids get out of school at the end of June. This year..all over our area farmers are trying for a 3 day pattern of NO RAIN. That is not happening!! Cattle are not as fussy..but horses..well that is different. I am afraid we are going to see lots of mold this year in the hay bales. It is going to be a long winter no matter what happens for a lot of horse owners. Not all can be as fortunate as we are to have enough hay on hand or have only a few horses to worry about. (It is ok..I worry about mine like we had at least 20..lol)

Here is the link to the wallhanging I am working on right now. It will look great hanging in my sewing room. http://www.toadusew.com/patterns/maplesugar/index.htm
Lots of cutting..and if they don't include a colour chart..just write or call there 800 line and they will send it out or email it to you. My kit did not have it included..( a manufacture error)and when called they were just amazing. They could not have been more helpful. Just love the instructions..fantastic fabric to work with.

Back to my room. Enjoy the day!

Love of Horses & Drapes

This is one of my favourite pictures. My granddaughter loves Bill..and as you can see the feeling is mutual. There is a reason for the saying "Gentle Giants". Max ( Bill's team mate) is not as into the show of affection..so he is not taking part in this photo shoot..lol. Next week we have our daughter and the 2 girls coming to stay for a few days. The first place the girls will want to go is to the barn to see all there friends.

In the title I mentioned drapes. They are my least favourite part of sewing. In fact I HATE DRAPES. Boy does my daughter owe me!!! We pinned them...I brought them home..cut off the excess of all 4 panels..shortened them...BUT.. thank heavens I only basted them before trying them on the rod again. Yup..they were still to long so had to take them down and cut another 1.5 off them. Between the rod not being level..and of course who knows about the floor, well enough said. Big thing is they are DONE..FINISHED..and being delivered tomorrow. Now back to quilting.

Have a great weekend everyone. Looks like it is going be to wet one.

Mini Horses

Just had to post a picture of my little friends that live across the road from our home. Are they not the cutest. It is all I can do not to buy one. Really don't you think that would make more sense than the Highland Cattle..lol. Next visit I will try and get some pictures of the foals..oh my are they ever sweet.

This is my Fav...just love this ones colors..and that face..awwww!!!

Now for the 9 patch brown quilt. Not a quilt I am in love with. I thought it would be ok for hubby's truck..manish and all that but when I got sewing it..good grief..pink!! Can you believe it.!!! Sure enough the lights where I bought the fabric did not show it as pinky beige..no just beige. I put a choc. brown border on it which did help..but not enough..lol Well not a happy camper but it is ready to be quilted. No matter who I asked..saw that darn pink so it will just have to go into the stash of quilts. Fuzzy likes it..silly cat just follows me around. He is a real character.

Well off to do some gardening..have a great day.

Those Horns!!

Ok..so they came..they were interesting..UNTIL...they decided that the horns should rub on the fences..the poles..the trees..ya!!! right. We did have electric on that field..but during the winter it came down..and ya!! know it was just not worth it for a few weeks to put it all back up. SO they are back home where they are not my worry. Cool looking from now on from a distance. Will stick to my Clydes..lol

At this point ..these are enough to keep my attention...lol. Just love the shading, gorgeous.

Met up with some sewing buddies at Fabricland this morning. Great sale on so I wanted to stock up on some Warm & Natural batting. 50% off store wide, great time to stock up.

There is a group of us making a Koos Jacket (pattern from Vogue) this fall so several of us managed to find what we needed. Really looking forward to that class. Bunny http://creativehare.blogspot.com/is coming up from Burlington to teach us the class in Sept. Nothing like planning ahead..lol

End of by cattle business..and back to Stitches & Horse Hooves..lol

You Can Borrow Cows

Will try this again..grrr. Had my last post all ready to go and managed to wipe it out. Not my day so trying again.

Check out the horns..oh my. These are Scottish Highland Cattle. Cool lookin dude isn't he. There are 3 of them in the field. The cows are easier to see there long hair with them being a lighter color. What a mop of hair over there eyes. Makes you wonder how they can see where they are going. We needed the front pasture eaten down so we asked a neighbor if we could borrow these 3..lol. The horses and even the cats..are totally fascinated. Bill keeps starring ..and all but asks..what the heck..lady is THAT??? Hubby is threatening to put up a sign..DIAMOND JUDE'S CATTLE RANCH>>>lol..lol. Not to worry these visitors are not staying long. Boy do they attract flies..ugh!!!

Heading off to do some shopping..then back to some quilting. Have a great day!

Kittens & Quilts

Not sure how we got to June..but here we are!!

I finally finished the Scrappy Quilt, what a long project that was. Looks amazing and will post a picture later.

Now on to a quilt for Rod's truck. He got a new mattress in his truck so the old quilt is not big enough. Good enough reason for me. Heading off for another week on the road, hopefully with a new quilt soon. We have learned to love orange..lol..lol

I am not sure about the colour yet. May not be manish enough..lol. In any case we can always use it somewhere else. The pattern is called Split Nine Patch. Would love to play with some other fabric colours.

Kittens are a riot. Every trip to the barn takes forever..gotta play with the cuties. Still have 2 kittens that need forever homes. They can stay with us..but I would love them to go to "homes". This little one is Tippy. White tips on her back feet. She is the only fluffy one in the litter.

Off to get some work done. Have a great day!!

Weekend of Rain!

Well I guess the rain will clean things up..but there is so much yard work to do. Rod spent a busy time on everything outdoors until the dreaded down pour started. The dump run was a wet experience..lol..but finally happened. The garage and basement have a lot more room in it. Only 2 items went back into the basement. Pretty good considering all the "stuff" that came out of it last weekend. Thanks to all our friends. Your help made it all happen. The job is completed for another season.


There was a mad scramble into my sewing studio on Sat. when the words Horse SHOW on Sunday were said..oh my!! Only had the job of putting the name of Brooke's horse Savannah on a saddle pad and lead shank for 2 months..yikes. What was I thinkin..lol. Not a big job..and it is done. Will I EVER learn!!

The kittens are 6 weeks old today..and just a tad cute...lol. I was so tempted to bring a pair home for the day ..but I was good. Another 2 weeks and some will be heading off to there forever homes. Tomorrow I am going to let them out of the tack room to play in the barn. With all the doors closed they will be fine playing in the alley way...Now that will be cute to watch. Now you know what I will be doing tomorrow.

Heavy traffic with it being a long weekend here in Ontario. Not a weekend to go far. Have a great weekend everyone. Keep safe!!

Pets & Cleaning

First of all thanks to Allyjo for her post. We have had issues with the basement..so like you mentioned..no insurance. No point!!
Hey it is about your Mufasa kitten..check out my Marmalade..I think they are related..lol. And..oh my I read some of your postings..7 Min. frosting. That has been my fav for years. Your the first person I have heard mention it in so many years. Way to go Allyjo!! I hope you can keep busy with the family away..big change isn't it.


Kally & Fuzzy in play mode..but always willing to have a picture taken. What a pair. Fuzzy is convinced he is a dog.





Back to the yard sale. It was a great success. I was just to busy to take pictures. People started at 7a.m. and kept coming til around 7p.m. Was in bed and asleep ..lol..by 8p.m. Got rid of a pile of "stuff" now to do the dump run this weekend. Fans are in the basement along with a dehumidifier and finally I can see an end to this story. All in all people..we ALL have way to much "stuff". Oh except for quilters..LOL..lol..lol.

Time to head back to my cleaning..and maybe even some sewing this afternoon.

Cleaning the basement after a spring flood

Ok..so it helps that our street is having a yard sale. When the snow was melting and everything was a total mess outside..of course the basement had a flood as well. Now it is a "basement" but it still creates a lot of clean up work when this happens. The wonderful people that decide who gets there ditch along the Hwy. cleaned out (which is right in front of our house) keep telling me we are not on there "list". The last time they did this cleaning..we had a dry basement for several springs. I keep saying to them..but your compromising my foundation...falls on deaf ears. Drives me crazy...especially as I am the one to clean it all up..and deal with the molds that I am paranoid about. In any case..Sat is the yard sale. We have like so many families accumulated so many duplicates of furniture..ect...or called Junk!!! It will take more than one sale to deal with this but it is a start..then we can make a dump run...that I love. Tomorrow morning I am going to get some fans..and see if that helps the situation down there. Don't even care if I make any money..just want it outta there.
Now I have had my rant I will head to the shower. Tomorrow is another day. Sewing..what is that..lol. I did find some cool fabric in some bins down there..lol..Nite everyone!!!

Creative Sewing Festival..oh my!!

Bunny and I had a great time. So much to see..so little time. We both fell in love with the B-Line machine quilting frame and are saving our pennies. Just where we are going to put these large toys is another issue. Oh well..we know when it comes to our toys we WILL find room. When I had my ladies wear store we of course had a steamer. Boy have I missed that hand dandy way of doing shirts. Picked up one of those at the show. Already using it..great for Rod's uniform shirts. Saves me a lot of time on busy weekends when the last thing you feel like doing is ironing.

Managed to restrain myself in the kit department. Only got one bed kit..lol. It is called the Split 9 Patch. The colours don't look the brightest in the picture. Going to cut this out today. Should go together quickly.

We were on our last tour of the exhibits..when what does Bunny spot..this!!!

You got it..I HAD to buy it. This one will be a challenge but I can hardly wait to get started. I am going to slow down and really take my time with this one. They had it at the show all framed up and hanging on the wall. Oh my was it gorgeous!!!

We checked out all the new machines as we wandered around. Still have a hankering for a Sapphire 870 Quilt. What a great machine. I love my Mega Quilter..but it would be great to have all those stitches AND the extra room in the throat plate. Just think of all the fancy quilting that can be done instead of just doing in the ditch...hummmm!!!

More tomorrow..life is starting to return to a normal pace what ever that is..lol

Starting off with Kitten update

Been more than a little busy around here so I am behind on my kitten pictures. They have changed even more since these pictures. Will have to try and get some more today. There adoptive new homes are all ready and waiting for these little ones.

We think !! 3 boys & 3 Girls..

So how cute are these little ones. I have to take another picture. This was taken the day they were born. (Thanks to Bunny at Creative Hare for framing the picture..how cool is that..she did the other ones as well. Gotta learn how to do that..)There little eyes are just starting to open. The big one in the middle I call Bruiser..lol he is all boy..going to be a dandy lad. Keeping him..as well as one female which I will decide on later.

Spring brings all sorts of jobs that need to be done rather than sewing. The ice on the lake is trying to break up..a few more days of sun will help that. Hoping the ice just sinks rather than causing shore damage. Our Clyde's nice clean white legs are muddy....they look like a pair of orphans..lol.

Dog walking time..see ya!

Spring is here..yippee!!

Water everywhere and the snow is slowly going. What a muddy mess we are going to have shortly at the barn. Miss Purr had her kittens yesterday..looks like 3 boys and 3 girls. Cute as all kittens are. Black/brown tabbies and 2 dark gray. Most already have potential home so no worries there.

Sewing..what is that. Between family and the barn there has not been much time to play. Maybe today I can slip in there and get a few hours of quilting done. Working on the lap quilt..gotta get that darn thing done.

Enjoy the warm weather!!!